Molecular Basis of Health and Disease

The book describes how the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules is related to health and disease. It is suggested that many diseases are initiated and their progress is influenced by inflammatory molecules and a decrease in the production and/or action of anti-inflammatory molecules and this imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules seems to have been initiated in the perinatal period. This implies that strategies to prevent and manage various adult diseases should start in the perinatal period. An alteration in the metaolism of essential fatty acids and their anti-inflammatory molecules such as lipoxins, resolvins, protecitns, maresins and nitrolipids seems to play a major role in the pathobiology of several adult diseases. Based on these concepts, novel therapeutic approaches in the management of insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, cancer, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases are presented. Based on all these evidences, a unified concept that several adult diseases are due to an alteration in the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules is discussed and novel methods of their management are presented.

About the Author. - Preface. - Dedication. - Chapter 1: Introduction. - Chapter 2: Health and Disease as two sides of the same coin. - Chapter 3: Inflammation. - Chapter 4: Essential fatty acids-Biochemistry, Physiology and Clinical Significance. - Chapter 5: Cell membrane organization. - Chapter 6: Low-grade systemic inflammation is common in iseases/disorders. - Chapter 7: Obesity. - Chapter 8: Hypertension. - Chapter 9: Insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes Mellitus and metabolic syndrome. - Chapter 10: Atherosclerosis. - Chapter 11: Osteoporosis. - Chapter 12: Alzheimer s disease, schizophrenia and depression. - Chapter 13: Rheumatological conditions. - Chapter 14: Cancer. - Chapter 15: Aging. - Chapter 16: Adult diseases and low-grade systemic inflammation have their origins in the perinatal period. - Chapter 17: Clinical implications.